By Leslie D. Venzon
MANILA, Oct. 6 (PNA) — Local share prices rallied for a second day and breached the 7,000 level on Tuesday, driven by Wall Street gains as the United States Federal Reserve kept interest rates.
The barometer Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) surged 93.56 points or 1.34 percent to 7,055.49 from previous day’s 6,961.93 finish.
“Positive sentiments arising from Wall Street as expectation of a rate hike fades this year boosted local investors’ sentiments. This has triggered some accumulation after recent month of weakness,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief strategist at BDO Unibank Inc.
Ravelas said a break above 7,300 could “signal the bulls to play anew”.
Nisha Alicer, chief equity strategist at DA Market Securities Inc., noted that external headwinds remain with US Fed rate hike postponed as global growth concerns persist and the China slowdown lingers.
“Note however that the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) cited possible second-round effects on the Philippines via trade partners that have more exposure to China’s slowdown,” she said.
Almost all counters advanced remarkably, led by services that posted 2.51-percent gain.
A total of 2.68 billion shares valued at Php13.63 billion changed hands.
Advancers swamped decliners, 113 to 67, while 46 issues unchanged. (PNA)